Darkness
by PhantomWraith
Summary: Shadows. They're everywhere. Outside, behind us, in our hearts. Darkness. There is no escaping it. Whether in space or in the forest with a fire to provide light, a shadow is always cast and darkness inevitably inhabits that shadow. Not even I can escape.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Warhammer 40K.

Darkness

Prologue

He narrowed his eyes at the Grey Knight as he swung his bladed staff, intending to kill him in a single blow. He wouldn't tolerate such unrefined brutality. Raising his left hand, the Space Marine was thrown back by some unseen force. Forming an energy blade on his right forearm, he motioned his raised hand towards himself slightly and watched impassively as the Grey Knight was suddenly pulled towards him. With a simple thrust, the armored soldier was impaled through the chest by the blade. A simple flick of his wrist and the Grey Knight was thrown several meters away from him and into the nearby river.

He was easily 6'8" and his hair was snow white and long enough to reach down to his lower back, slicked back and semi-spikey at the top of his head. The lower half of his face was hidden by a black metal face mask, his eyes being a deep crimson bearing slit pupils and black sclera.

He bore heavy black armor on his arms from hand to shoulder on both arms, the tips of his fingers left bare for his two-inch long black claws. His torso was uncovered save for the sleeveless fishnet top he wore and the thick leather straps for his armor sleeves. He also wore baggy dark crimson pants with a black sash wrapped around his waist with one end hanging down to his knees in the front, black armored boots and greaves that went up to his knees with his pant legs tucked in to them, and a pair of mighty broad swords crossed on his back.

Both blades were easily six feet long and one foot wide, made of black colored metal with foot long handles bound in crimson cloth. They were strapped to his torso with thick leather straps. Black tribal markings stained the tanned flesh of his torso and seemed to give off a crimson aura. His armor, while ancient in appearance, was made with the best technology he could find. Energy blades and energy bolters were installed in the forearms, energy shields were built into the pauldrons, stealth tech littered his armor completely, his greaves were made to increase his speed, and- though it was not visible- his eyes had been augmented with nano technology to give a broad range of spectrums to see with.

Turning around, Naruto left the area. It had been nearly four thousand years since Madara, in an act of desperation, tried to combine eight of the nine Bijuu and seal them within himself. It worked...temporarily. The seal held for only a few minutes before turning into one massive chakra bomb, literally detonating and sending the yoki from the eight Bijuu all over the planet.

The landscape hadn't been all that damaged, but all humans and wildlife on the planet was transformed, generating thousands of new species. He had gone into self-exile not long after and wandered the wilderness, avoiding every Drake- the name of the changed human race- settlement. Naruto still lived simply because the seal containing Kyuubi inside of him had faultered when he was 24 and he wound up absorbing every last bit of yoki from Kyuubi in a week and became the new Kyuubi no Kitsune, thus granting him immortallity and several other things.

The event known only as 'Fury' had caused his heart to shatter and he became cold, almost emotionless. Had it not been for his strong bond and allignment with nature, he just might have gone insane. Now, for the past two years, he had three...no, four different alien races battling it out on his planet, _HIS_ planet, for some reason that escapes him time and time again.

Maybe it was because his planet was rich in metals they needed? Some sort of element that powered their massive starships and vehicles, perhaps?

Dismissing those thoughts, Naruto paused in his travels and looked at the scenery before him. At first, the scene pained him greatly, but now it was nothing more than the same old city he had been living in for the past four thousand years...

Standing tall in all its glory was a destroyed village, rubble of ruined buildings from wars long past, massive stone walls finally giving way to nature as age took its toll on the once mighty defensive structure, the cliff barring off the southern side showing signs of weathering and erosion from many innumerable storms...

In the center of what was once known as Fire Country, the once great and prestigeous Konohagakure no Sato was now nothing more than ancient ruins forever haunted by the village's only occupant...


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Warhammer 40K.

Darkness

Chapter 1

Shas'O Tiera stood tall atop the cliff as she peered out over the land with a pair of binoculars. She was the Commander for the army of the Tau Empire stationed on Kral, an unihabited planet with lush forests filled with deadly beasts and perilous deserts and impassable mountains and great oceans. To the north, the south, the east, the west; any direction one went, they had best be heavily armed and well supplied or else they won't last very long on this planet.

The blue-skinned Tau was 5'4" and had bright amber eyes and long snow white hair that was tied up in a pony Tieral in the back. She wore tannish gold colored leg armor from her hooved feet to her wide hips, light weight tannish-gold pauldrons on her shoulders and upper back with a dark grey antenna-esque object projecting from the right pauldron, a black high collar top under her body armor that left her midriff bare and a good amount of cleavage from her D-cup breasts visible.

She usually carried around a pair of Fusion Blasters with her everywhere she went and almost always escorted by her four hand-picked body guards, but she had left them back at camp that morning. They were no doubt stressing over her disappearance.

However, what Tiera saw was not just another planet. She saw a great haven for its flora and fauna, hallowed land of peace and harmony...

The cold bite of metal and the powerful grasp of an armored hand wrapped around her throat broke her out of her thoughts. Grabbing onto the wrist connected to said hand and struggling to breath, Tiera mentally cursed herself for not bringing her bodyguards with her or for leaving the camp armed. She felt herself being lifted up by the hand grasping her neck- which she idly noted that it easily dwarfed her own hand- and was roughly pinned to a large tree.

Cracking an eye open, Tiera got a good look at her attacker. White hair, crimson eyes, bronzed skin, bare chest, armored limbs. _'Tall, scary, and intimidating...'_ She thought dryly as she desperately pried at the fingers on her neck. She paused slightly when the man spoke, his voice deep and commanding.

"Why are you here?" He asked as he loosened his grip slightly, but not enough for the young woman to free herself.

"I-I...don't...understand..." Tiera choked out, honestly not understanding the man's question. He didn't seem to like her answer and let out a low growl of annoyance.

"Why are you and the other armies invading my home? There is nothing here that is worth this senseless war!" He snarled, making the blue-skinned woman's eyes widen. She had no idea that the planet had any inhabitants and if it did, then why had they not attempted to defend their planet...there wasn't even a trace of their existence apart from a handful of old ruins hundreds of miles apart from one another.

She nearly jump out of her skin when the sound of Pulse Rifle went off a few meters away from them before the titan before her fell to his knees and then onto the ground, unconscious. Taking deep gasping breaths and rubbing her bruised throat, Tiera saw her four body guards; two Fire Warriors wearing the same color armor as her, only with red trimming, and two Stealth Suits, one of which having been the one to knock out the white haired terran lying beside her.

"Oh, you guys came just in time..." Tiera sighed as she leaned against the tree, the two Stealth Suits having started retraining the giant of a man. "I believe we have encountered a native of this planet. He kept asking why we were here and stated that there was nothing here worth fighting for."

"What are we to do with him, Mi'lady?" One of the Fire Warriors asked. Tiera took a moment to think it over before sighing. "Bring him back to camp and properly secure him. It would not do us any good to kill off the first and only native of this planet we have come across, now would it?"

"As you wish, Commander." The Fire Warrior responded before he and the others dragged the man back to their camp site a couple hundred meters away. Tiera rubbed her temples with her index and middle fingers and sighed again, already feeling the coming headache she had just no doubt given herself.

Growling deep in his throat, Naruto slowly regained consciousness. The last thing he remembered was interrogating that Tau soldier he found on top of what was once the Hokage Mountain before he heard a rifle go off. Darkness reigned supreme in his mind after that.

Noticing he was restrained with solid cuffs made of some sort of metal, his hands bound behind his back and leaning against a metal wall, sitting on a metal floor. For what reason, he did not know, but they had left his armor and mask on him. At least they were smart enough to take his swords, but not by much...

Unlike what most people think, Naruto's most powerful weapons were not his swords, but in fact his armor sleeves. They not only provided protection, but they hold an array of weaponry and mechanisms that can increase his skills exponentially. An exmaple of which was increasing his physical strength...

"Fools." Naruto growled under his breath as he pulled his wrists apart and snapped the cuffs in half. Standing up, he walked up to the cage door set into a metal wall. He heard a slight high-pitched hum coming from it and deduced it was most likely electrified. Just to be sure, he the back of his hand against it and watched impassively as electricity sparked at the point of contact and arc across his gauntlet. His armor was insulated, neutralizing any effect the electricity might have had on him.

"Tch. Damn..." Naruto cursed under his breath, knowing he wouldn't be able escape without setting off an alarm or five and then sneaking past the unknown number of troops stationed at this post. He be the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but he still has his limitations. While the original Kyuubi had been a massive being made entirely of yoki, Naruto was still bound by his fleshy body.

Turning back around, Naruto sat down on the lone bench bolted to the wall, reminding him some what of Konoha's old cells. Closing his eyes, Naruto waited. He didn't know how long, but the sounds of the hooved feet of Tau reached his ears, stopping at his cell door before turning back around and leaving at slightly quicker pace. Less than an hour later, the sounds of three Tau approaching his cell reached his ears.

"To whom do I owe this visit, Tau?" Naruto asked coldly, eyes still closed. He recognized the scent of one as the woman he found earlier. From the scent of the other two, Naruto figured they were her bodyguards.

"I see you broke free of your restraints..." The woman noted in mild surprise. The low thrum of two Pulse Rifles being armed informed Naruto that the two Fire Warriors flanking her were now aiming at him, having not noticed the lack of cuffs until the woman pointed it out. Although he didn't see it, the woman motioned for them to stand down, which they did a moment later without disarming their rifles. Just in case.

"I am Shas'O Tiera, Commander of the Tau forces here on Kral." Tiera responded in a commanding voice and gave her prisoner a quizzical look when said person started to chuckle darkly. "What is it that you find so funny?"

"The fact you think your rank means anything to me." Naruto answered as he opened his eyes and looked straight into the eyes of Tiera. His scarlet orbs frightened her, but Tiera refused to show it and stood her ground. Suddenly, she got the impression the armored figure before her was grinning. "You're scared of me. Don't bother denying it. I can smell it." Tiera growled quietly as she heard this. She may not like it, but the an had a point.

"Leave us." Tiera ordered her two guards. She wanted some alone time with the man. One of them looked like he was about to protest, but she would not have it. "Are you going to disobey your Shas'O, Shas'la?" Reluctantly, the two Fire Warriors disarmed their rifles and left.

"Now who are you? What's your name?" Tiera asked rather angrily. Naruto chuckled again, finding it quite amusing that he could fluster the woman so easily. Standing at his full height, Naruto stepped up to the door.

"Uzumaki Naruto, former Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato and current Kyuubi no Kitsune." Naruto proudly informed the woman, already knowing the woman would not understand what his titles meant. While not as arrogant as his predecessor, Naruto was still proud of his status, but never let it go to his head. Then, his eyes became glazed over and frozen. "I am the only survivor of my people and have been for over four thousand years."

Suddenly, Tiera's anger was gone and had to resist the urge to shed a tear for the man. She had always been an emotional woman. Taking a moment to compose herself, Tiera looked at Naruto with a small and sad smile.

"I'm sorry for your loss. I know what it's like to lose someone close to you, but not one's entire race." Tiera finally told him before starting to walk away. She then looked over her shoulder. "We'll talk more later, ok?"

Naruto nodded and sat back down on the bench as Tiera left. He sighed and leaned against the wall, his eyes closed again. He had thought he had gotten over the lose of his people, but it turns out he was wrong. Naruto found out he still had a heart after all, albeit frozen and cracked.

When he said he was the last of his people, he wasn't exactly lying. He was the only human...Well, _half_ human on the planet and the only Bijuu in existence. Drakes were simply human in a mental sense, but more reptilian in a physical and behavioral sense. Sighing, Naruto dismissed those thoughts and cleared his head, deciding to meditate.

A week passed and Naruto was allowed to roam the base because of the new...friendship he had developed with Tiera and also because of 'good behavior'...sort of. To be honest, Naruto wasn't so sure as to why he stayed with the Tau, who had set up base only three miles north of Konoha, his chosen territory.

From the talks he and Tiera had over the week, the Tau were here in search of new allies to join their growing empire. They had been the first to arrive on Kral, in fact, and were fighting to get rid of the other races on the planet, though that was kind of a given. Tiera even told him where each race was located on Kral with a map and Naruto told her where the old borders were for easier specifications of locations.

The Tau held almost all of Fire Country. The Space Marines occupied Lightning, Rice, and most of Earth country. The Imperial Guards were encamped in the rest of Earth Country and down to the southern coast of Wind Country. The Eldar had settled in Spring Country.

Sighing, Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, feeling incomplete without the weight of his broadswords on his back. They still wouldn't give them back to him, but Naruto didn't really mind. He just missed having them on him at almost all times.

The snapping of a twig nearby caught his attention, but it didn't alarm him. He knew it was Tiera, armed with her fusion blasters and accompanied by her guards, a full team of 14 Fire Warriors, two full teams of six XV25 Stealth Suits each, two teams of five Pathfinders each, and four XV8 Crisis Battlesuits armed with twin-linked Fusion Blasters and Shield Generators. Thirty-four soldiers in total, Tiera and himself excluded.

"Up for a little hunting?" Tiera asked with a smirk. Nodding in reply, Naruto waited for the Tau Commander to further explain. "A group of Space Marines were spotted roughly thirty miles to the north east by one of our Pathfinder patrols. We're going out there to hunt them down and give them a lesson in respecting borders. It'll take a week at most, but with your help, it should be rather easy for us."

"Do I get my swords back?" Naruto asked as he tightened the straps of his armor so as to keep any of it from slipping in battle.

"No. Sorry, Naruto. You must understand that while we trust you enough to walk around unsupervised, we don't trust you with a weapon just yet. You're lucky we let you keep your armor." Tiera responded with an apologetic look, earning a simple shrug as a response from Naruto.

"Eh. Let's just get going." Naruto growled out, smirking behind his mask since they still believed his armor was simply just armor. Even without his armor, Naruto was as powerful and unstoppable as a force of nature. Hell, even a jounin level shinobi was a mighty powerhouse compared to any of the races on Kral. Nodding, Tiera led them to three vehicles; two Pirahna Skimmers and an Orca.

Immediately, Naruto knew it was going to be a bit of a tight squeeze on the carrier. Tiera's bodyguards got on the Pirahnas and drove them into Orca before parking them in the rear of the cargo hold on either side, staying in them as the Crisis Battlesuits followed them in and took up the space between them. The Fire Warrior team followed and took up both sides while he and Tiera stationed themselves in the middle of them all, the Stealth Suits and Pathfinders entering last to create a sort of buffer between the Fire Warriors and the cargo bay door.

Just as he predicted, it most definitely was a tight squeeze. Luckily, everyone gave him enough elbow room due to his size, but unfortunately, a certain someone took advantage of it. Tiera grinned up at him as she stood in front of him and leaned back against him, ignoring the slight twitch Naruto's eye had taken on. Neither said anything and Naruto simply let her do as she wished.

The ride was nearly an hour, but once the Orca landed and the bay doors opened up, everyone got off and unloaded their equipment. Taking a quick look around to gain his bearings, Naruto noticed that they were only a mile from Dragon Valley. It was a deep rocky abyss with hundreds of natural caves lining the walls.

_'I remember that place...I once sparred with Jiraiya-sensei here...'_ Naruto thought before shaking his head and clearing his mind, focusing back on the task at hand. He noticed everyone was already starting to set up camp. Growling loudly in annoyance, Naruto let out a loud, yet short roar to gain everyone's attention.

"You fools! This is Wolven territory! You won't live to see the morning sun if you camp here!" Naruto snarled as he pointed towards the west. "If we go one mile west, we'll reach Dragon Valley by night fall. We'll be safe from the Wolven there."

Turning on his heel, Naruto snatched up a large metal container holding an assortment of equipment for the week. Noticing that everyone was staring at him and not following, Naruto stopped and glared at everyone over his shoulder.

"What the hell are you guys waiting for? An engraved invitation? Get your asses moving!" Naruto snapped angrily before stomping off towards Dragon Valley again, everyone working quickly to gather everything back up and follow after him. Tiera stared at his back owlishly, dumbfounded from seeing how easily and quickly Naruto managed to get _her_ troops to obey _him_. Running to catch up to Naruto, Tiera fell into step beside him.

"Naruto...what exactly are these Wolven you speak about?" She asked curiously. Naruto glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Wolven are large humanoid canines with enough physical strength to rip even your Crisis Battlesuits in two if they're pissed off enough." Tiera flinched at that, already imagining what these Wolven looked like. "They stand at about 6 or 7 feet with long claws on their hands and feet, long and sharps teeth in their jaws, dense and wiry muscles that give them incredible agility and swiftness, and their fur varies between shades of greys, blacks, whites, and browns. They are highly intelligent and learn very quickly. The same strategy _never_ works twice when it comes to them."

"How do you know so much about them?" Tiera asked, only to get a quite growl from the hulking man beside her.

"I've had my share of run-ins with them and the Wolven in these woods aren't the only ones. These are only the Southern Wolven that occupy Fire and Tea Country; highly aggressive and zealously territorial, but easily scared off. The Northern Wolven reside in Earth and Spring Country; the strongest and most loyal of Wolven, but they're also the slowest. The Western Wolven occupy Wind Country; the fastest and stealthiest of Wolven, but easily discouraged like the Southern Wolven. The Eastern Wolven are in Water Country, the smartest and most troublesome of Wolven, but also the weakest." Naruto paused in his explanation as he froze in place, staring off into the forest intensely. Behind him, the Tau soldiers noticed this and became a litle nervous and more alert, being foreign to the land.

"Run. Keep going west." Naruto ordered as he passed the container he was carrying to a pair of Stealth Suits. Suddenly, a pair of crimson energy blades shot out of both og his gauntlets, surprising most of those present. "You'll know when you've reached Dragon Valley. I'll follow after you once I'm finished."

A faint howl drifted in the wind, causing a couple of the troops to grow frightened. Tiera opened her mouth to protest, but Naruto glared at her and snarled. She wisely shut up.

"Go! Now!" He barked out, receiving a determined nod from Tiera before she took off in the direction they had been headed in, followed swiftly by the contingent of Tau soldiers. Minutes later, Naruto ducked under a grey blur, kneed a black blur in the chest, speared another grey one with his left blades, beheaded a white one, and kicked a second black one away from him. The blurs revealed themselves to be Wolven, bipedal wolves with elongated arms and thick fur.

Deactivating the energy blades and engulfing his forearms in electricity, Naruto growled deep in his throat as warning, waiting for the next Wolven to attack him. Not a moment later, a tawny furred Wolven attacked him from behind. Jumping up to dodge it, Naruto drove his heels into the Wolven's back and snapped its spine. He was suddenly blind-sided by the grey Wolven he had first dodged, the beast's claws and teeth tearing at the flesh of his torso.

Luckily, he was healing faster than the Wolven could injure him. Smashing his hands into the Wolven's back in a hammer blow, Naruto let the electricty do its job and stun the creature. Kneeing the creature in the chest and punching it in the throat, Naruto watched with grim satisfaction as the Wolven suffocated and soon died.

Seeing so many of their kind die so fast at the hands of this potential apex predator, the Wolven backed away from him cautiously, hesitant to attack him now. Bellowing in fury at the Wolven, Naruto took a step forward to challenge them, grinning as they all turned tail and ran. As soon as they were gone, Naruto looked at his torso and saw that it was covered in his blood from the already healed wounds inflicted upon him by the grey Wolven whose throat he had crushed.

Turning around and walking towards Dragon Valley, Naruto huffed in annoyance as he knew he was going to get peppered with questions from Tiera when he caught back up to her and the others...


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Warhammer 40K.

Darkness

Chapter 2

Having started raining not long after the sun went down, Naruto had quickly made his way to Dragon Valley before deciding to see how well Tiera was able to handle herself. Activating the stealth field generator in his armor, Naruto silently raced through the valley unseen, searching for his quarry. Within a few minutes, Naruto came upon the camp site that was in one of the larger caves and a couple of the small ones.

They were well entrenched. A pair of Crisis Battlesuits at either end of the fifteen foot wide path, four Fire Warriors at either end with them, and the rest of the Fire Warriors and Stealth Suits going about their own business. One team of Stealth Suits scouted out the surrounding caves on both sides of the earthen crevice thanks to their jetpacks. The Pathfinder teams were already out on patrol.

Finding her skills in leadership to be quite good, Naruto leapt to the other side of the valley and crawled along the wall until he was beside the entrance to the cave Tiera was in. Silently lowering himself down to the ground, Naruto peaked inside and saw that a tannish colored tarp had been pinned up to provide a semblance of privacy for her.

Switching his vision toward heat detection, Naruto noticed that she was inside with her back toward the entrance of the cave. Refining his vision until everything came in sharper detail, Naruto noticed she was dressed in only her leg armor and her cloth top, her pauldrons having been set off to the side along with her Fusion Blasters.

Slipping in unnoticed, Naruto deactivated the stealth field and grinned mischievously as he reached out to touch her shoulders with both hands...

= Ten Minutes Later =

Naruto sat there dumbly, thoroughly confused just as he had been for roughly eight or nine minutes. When he had entered Tiera's little 'den' and scared the shit out of her, she did what he didn't expect. He expected her to scream her head off in fright before trying to relieve him of his own in anger. What he got was _way_ off...

She had kissed him...

He wasn't sure why and he had a feeling that Tiera didn't understand why either, but there was no way to change what had already happened. It had been over four thousand years since he had last been kissed and just as long since he had felt any real emotions other than anything instinctual. Emotions were foreign to him once again and it made him feel like he did when he was a child; ignorant and oblivious to things that were obvious to others.

On the other side of camp was Tiera, sitting quietly in her chosen cave, just as confused and stumped as Naruto was. She didn't know why, but over the short amount of time she had known Naruto, Tiera had started growing fond of Naruto's presence. It had only come to her attention when Naruto stayed behind to fend of the creatures he called Wolven. She had become overcome with worry and nearly turned back around to go help him several times. The only thing keeping her from doing that was the knowledge that her troops needed her and that Naruto had been living here for many centuries.

Sighing, Tiera laid down on her cot and stared up at the cave ceiling, eyes unfocused. Although it wasn't uncommon, interracial couples were usually frowned upon. She wasn't even sure if she felt for him like that, let alone him liking her.

Shaking her head to clear it, Tiera sat up and started tinking with an old gun drone she had been working on for a while now. It was a hobby she had developed a couple months after coming to Kral. Tiera was trying to build herself a gun drone with interchangable weapons before sending the blueprints to a friend of hers in the Earth Caste so that he could refine the machine's functions and possibly mass produce it for the Tau Empire.

"Shas'O!" A Stealth Suit called out from just outside the curtain. "We just recieved word from one of our Pathfinders that the Space Marines are nearing our position. What are our orders?"

"Gather the other Stealth Suits and move to intercept the terrans once your ready." Tiera ordered as she set aside her prototype gun drone and started putting her armor back on. Then a thought hit her like a shot from a Rail Rifle. "Take Naruto with you as well. I want to see what he can do."

"At once, Shas'O." The Stealth suit replied before leaving to do as he was ordered. Tiera sighed again as she exited the cave and went about checking on everything. At the same time, the Stealth Suit that had spoken with Tiera was now approaching Naruto, who was lounging on an outcropping of stone jutting out from the cliff side a couple feet above the path.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, stunning the Stealth Suit momentarily due to him being cloaked at the moment. Regaining his composure, the Tau infiltrator explained what their orders were before turning around to join the rest of the Stealth Suit teams. Sighing, Naruto dropped down to the path and walked towards the group, secretly snagging a pair of Fusion Blasters and sealing them away for later use along with a small collection of Photon and EMP grenades.

No one noticed a thing and Naruto smirked at that, glad that he kept his theiving skills sharp. Upon meeting up with the Stealth Suits, Naruto tuned out just about everything that was said and followed after them. In about an hour, they came to a stop on a low-lying cliff that was roughly thirty feet high.

Below them was their quarry; eight Scout Marines armed with sniper rifles and sitting around a small fire. Making sure that he was in the back, Naruto activated his stealth field and slipped away. Quickly making his way down the side of the cliff, Naruto snuck up behind one of the Scout Marines with a kunai in his right hand. He had forged plenty of them for personal use over the years and stored a number of them in seals on his armor.

Covering the soldier's mouth with his left hand, Naruto slit the man's throat and dragged him away. Luckily, it was nearly midnight and too dark for anyone to see properly without any visual aids. Naruto didn't need them due to his own optical augmentations done by Kyuubi many years ago. Glancing up at the top of the cliff and focusing on his hearing, Naruto found that the Stealth Suits had yet to notice he had disappeared and that they were still trying to plan their attack.

Repeating the process two more times, Naruto stalked through the shadows, planning how to make the next kill. Five Scouts living, three dead. He mentally cursed himself when they discovered the disappearance on their three dead comrades. They were now on guard and it would make them harder to kill. Sealing away the kunai and his face mask, Naruto dropped to all fours and slipped into a more animalistic form.

His claws grew longer and sharper, his legs bent into double-jointed digitigrade legs much like those of a canine, his face elongated into a vulpine maw with sharp teeth in the jaws, a single long and bushy crimson fox tail grew out from his tail bone, and thick dark crimson fur covered his skin. His eyes became more feral and his white hair was stained crimson like his fur, his armored sleeves still covering his arms.

Snarling viciously as saliva dripped from his muzzle, Naruto slowly approached the Scout Marines until he was near the edge of the fire's light. When one of them turned in his direction, Naruto bolted and circled them just outside of the fire's range of illumination so all the Scouts saw was a blurry shadow.

"What the hell was that?" One hissed to another.

"I don't know." The team leader replied surprisingly calmly while loading his rifle. His subordinates started panicking, jumping at every sound, every moving shadow. Scowling, the veteran ignored his men and stared out into the night, his back to the fire. A strangled cry and a gun shot made him spin around, just barely catching a glimpse of crimson fur as whatever it was darted back into the shadows with a member of his squad.

"Damn it!" The man cursed softly when he saw the blood spatter on the gravel where the recently attacked Scout had stood moments ago. Shouldering his rifle, the leader waited for their attacker to make his next move.

Above them, the Tau Stealth Suits watched in shock and horror at what was happening below them. They had been alerted to the chaos occuring below them by the rifle going off and only now became aware of Naruto's disappearance. Thanks to the night vision optics in their helmets, they saw everything Naruto- though they didn't know it was him- did to the men.

Three Scouts with slit throats were piled up a few meters away from the others and the mauled body of a Scout was not far from them, but that wasn't all. Naruto had his muzzle buried in the corpse's abdomin, devouring the dead man's innards. Stepping away from the corpse and locking onto the rest of the Scouts, Naruto snarled again before charging again.

Skimming the edge of the fire light, Naruto reached out and snagged another Scout by the neck before running off and slamming the man against the cliff, easily snapping the man's neck. As he tore off the man's armor and slashed open the skin of the man's gut, the Stealth Suit team's Shas'vre ordered a Shas'la to return to camp and inform Tiera of what has been going on.

Having seen the insides of many soldiers before, none of the Tau needed to purge their stomachs, but they were nonetheless sickened by the scene of the red furred beast feeding on the Scout Marines. The Shas'vre narrowed his eyes and zoomed in on the creature before his eyes widened in surprise, recognizing the armored sleeves as Naruto's. He could not quite understand how Naruto and this creature were one and the same, but he decided to keep this knowledge to himself for the time being.

The team leader quietly seethed in rage, five of his men now missing, most likely killed by this predatory beast. It had been a few minutes since the fifth had been taken, about as long as it had been between the fourth was taken and the fifth was grabbed. Knowing it wouldn't be long before the creature returned to make a sixth kill, he faced his two men, rifle at the ready.

He had noticed that while he himself had been wide open, their attacker had gone for one of the others each time. It was almost as if he was picking off the weakest and most frightened of them. Basic hunting pattern of large predators; pick off the stragglers, which are usually the sick, elderly, wounded, or young ones.

He faintly heard the crunch of gravel over the crackle of fire and the murmurs of his subordinates. Tensing and glancing to either side, he waited for the creature to attack his two remaining men. Then it happened...

Claws tore into his left flank and teeth grabbed hold of his neck, ripping off from the ground and dragging him along into the night. Unable to scream due to his punctured wind pipe and drowing in his own blood from his severed arteries, the team leader's eyes were filled with fear as he looked right at the two scarlet orbs that stared right back at him with primal hunger. The beast's maw opened and came down upon him...

All was black after that...

After finishing eating his share of his most recent kill, Naruto turned his attention back on the two remaining Scouts, but he hissed and raised a clawed hand to block out the fire's bright glare. He had to get rid of that annoying light. It was messing with his sight. Sprinting toward the fire, Naruto kicked dirt and gravel onto it while jumping over it, grabbing another Scout by the neck with his left hand, before running away.

He did not escape unharmed this time as the remaining Scout Marine got in a lucky shot and barely grazed Naruto's right side. Hissing in pain, Naruto looked at the wound, his foot pressed firmly on the suffocating Scout's neck. He was hurt, bleeding slightly.

Looking back at the last Scout, Naruto snarled. He would pay. The Scout will die slowly and painfully. For now, however, Naruto needed to eat. Crouching down, he dug his claws into the armor and ripped it off easily, almost as if it was made of rice paper. Ripping open the flesh, Naruto hungrily began to eat, unaware of the two Crisis Battlesuits joining the Stealth Suits and one other Tau.

They all watched with disgust, catching sight of a hunk of liver hanging out of Naruto's maw as he pulled his head out of the corpse's torso and swallowed the organ before diving back into his meal. None of them readied their weapons yet, deciding to let it finish off the remaining Scout.

Motioning for everyone to fall back to camp, Tiera turned away and left, nauseous and sickened. Everyone followed after her, but the Shas'vre that had recognized Naruto brought up the rear, internally debating whether or not to inform his Shas'O of the beast's identity. In the end, however, he chose not to tell her and decided to confront Naruto on the matter when he got the chance to speak with the...man-beast...about it in private.

They faintly heard a scream of horror and pain behind them, but they all ignored it, knowing it was the last Scout Marine. They would be on high alert now and would have to make sure they didn't let their guard down, lest the creature infiltrate their camp and slaughter them just as it did with the Marines...


End file.
